"With five against three, they'll be more than a match for the Legendary Dogs," Raichu
stated with his usual confidence.

Serebii shook his head. "Never underestimate your enemy," he advised.

"You must also remember that the outcome of that particular battle is only second in
importance to the battle with Mewtwo himself," Mew added, a strange glow seeping into
his eyes.

"I know the plan! I know the plan!" Pichu blurted excitedly. "Pikachu's, Wartortle's,
and Alakazam's forces can go against the Fire Gang and Golem's forces. Then, while
the birds and dogs fight, Jolteon's group can back you guys up against Mewtwo---"

"I doubt they'll need help," Alakazam interrupted. "Serebii and Mew can handle him
themselves. In the meantime, we must assemble our forces."

The psychic Pokémon closed his eyes and began to focus on the images around
him. His eyes snapped back open momentarily.

"The Dogs of War have been summoned by Mewtwo," he reported to the rest of the
group.

Pikachu shifted uncomfortably. He appeared to be seriously regretting his
decision to fight. But when his weary eyes alighted on the little yellow form that was his
brother, he knew he had no choice. Pichu was intently gazing out towards the heavens,
eyes bright, breath coming in short pants from the excitement of battle, and turned back
to his brother.

Pikachu's gaze shifted to his old friend and comrade, Raichu. Their eyes locked.
Without hesitation, Raichu nodded slowly. A slow smile crept across Pikachu's face. He
straightened up, and a new strength and vigor flowing through him, he yelled, "Assemble
the gangs! We're going to fight!"

"Yeeeaaaaahhh!!!" Pichu shouted as he threw his arms around Pikachu.

Raichu smiled a rare smile and patted Pikachu on the back.

"It's about time we got the old Pikachu back," he remarked as he turned to find the rest
of the Electric Gang.

Wartortle let out a whoop as he left to rally his forces.

"You just watch, Pikachu, we'll have victory or die fighting!" So saying, he disappeared.

Alakazam nodded to the remainder of the group.

"Good luck to you, Pikachu, Pichu, Mew, Serebii," he said warmly. "We'll meet later
with our forces, ready to fight…and then we shall fight the battle which will decide the
fate of this world." With those words, he teleported away.

Now, all that remained was Pikachu, Pichu, Mew, and Serebii. Pikachu was at a loss of
words and shifted nervously from foot to foot, but Pichu happily extended a yellow paw
to Mew and Serebii.

"We'll be seeing you later," Pichu said. "Good luck fighting Mewtwo!"

Pikachu looked surprised at first, but Mew gladly took Pichu's hand with his own and
shook.

"We're going to win this, big bro," he said softly. "I just know we are."

Pikachu squeezed Pichu's hand as they began to head towards the Electric Gang.
"Maybe we will…maybe we will…" he murmured as he watched five flying figures
disappear over the horizon.

From his perch atop the roof of the tallest building on Cinnabar Island, Mewtwo
laughed evilly.

"Brave words, little Pichu," he smirked, "but the fate is already in the palm of my hand."

Mewtwo's eyes landed on the three Legendary Dogs, who were growing
impatient and were thirsting for battle. His eyes changed to the uncharacteristic bloodred
color Rapidash glimpsed before her demise.

"Victory will be mine."

"Maybe we should all just return to our gangs and report to them what's happening,"
Vaporeon suggested as the group of six followed Zapdos and his allies as they flew past.

"No," Umbreon said, still concentrating on the upcoming battle. "There is too little time,
and I'm pretty sure Wartortle's already been alerted."

"After all, Articuno knows," Espeon pointed out. "Zapdos and the others will take care
of the Legendary Dogs. I suppose we're simply serving as a "back-up team" for any
others that require our assistance…"

"Great," Jolt groaned. "Now, not only am I going to be chewed out, I'm going to serve a
'back-up team' that won't even get to see any real action…"

"Look!" Eevee cried out suddenly. All faced turned to face the west, where the
Legendary Birds, Lugia, and Houou had disappeared, and heard the cries of war…

At first, the group of five birds hadn't suspected anything in particular. They had
been expecting Mewtwo to pop out, taunt them mercilessly, then fly off to face Serebii
and Mew while he sicked the Three Dogs of War upon them, but it didn't start in that
way at all. As the five separated to scout out the area, a sudden rushing sound told them
something was happening. Out of nowhere, a giant waterspout erupted from the surface
of the calm, glassy sea, and it swirled upwards at breakneck speed and intercepted
Moltres in his flight, who hadn't been expecting the blow. Moltres screeched in pain as
the water connected with his fiery wings, soaking them. Four heads jerked towards the
sound. Moltres flapped with much effort to a higher elevation and glared at the swirling
waterspout, trying to catch a glance at his attacker. Suddenly, the five birds saw a pair of
eyes, hidden in the water, staring out them. Zapdos, perhaps the most aggressive of them
all, was the first to act.

"So they want to exploit our weaknesses, eh? Well, I'LL exploit HIS!" Zapdos let out a
piercing scream as he dived at the dog, firing Thundershocks from his body and
motioning for the others to follow.

Articuno began to follow Zapdos' brave lead, but a blast of flame from his right
stopped him dead in his tracks. Articuno swerved to the left, barely avoiding the attack,
his cool, blue eyes clearly reflecting his anger, his long, sparkling tail singed. He caught
sight of a quick, fiery red figure moving swiftly from building to building on the shore of
Cinnabar Island, and went immediately on hot pursuit, shooting forth sub-zero blasts of
ice from his mouth. Houou swooped quickly to the ice bird Pokémon's aid, but Lugia
hung back, hovering over the now-raging waters. As the most powerful of the five, he
knew he could face whatever dog remained by himself-he hoped-and that's when the
clouds began to rumble. Thunder boomed, and no less than a hundred lightning bolts
began to gather in one place… A blinding light flashed, and when Lugia regained his
sight he saw a large, glowing yellow creature hovering in front of him. At that exact
second lightning flashed, and a Thunderbolt came from overhead, narrowly missing
Lugia, who flew aside at the last moment. The figure clearly resembled a dog, and it was
the last of the three.

"I am Raikou," the loud, booming voice spoke. "Perhaps you have heard of us, Lugia. If
you have not, I introduce myself to you now. If you have, you will regret the day you
heard about the Three Dogs of War!"

With a mighty roar, he lunged (more like lanced) towards Lugia, who darted to the right,
avoiding the being of pure electricity, which whizzed dangerously over his head.

"Come, come," the electric dog Pokémon taunted as he sent forth bursts of sparks from
his glowing body. "Surely the great Lugia is more powerful than I?"

Lugia, ignoring the words, set up a protective psychic barrier, the sparks bouncing
harmlessly off.

"Hmmm…" Raikou mused. "Not bad. Not bad at all…"

He launched a pure-white missile, which crackled with electricity, from his
mouth. It shot forward in a white blur, and Lugia tried his best to avoid it, as it seemed
powerful, but it acted like a homing missile, and while it did not explode on impact, it hit
the barrier, completely surrounded it, and with a great flash and loud crackling, a
Thunderbolt attack from Raikou hit the forcefield, destroying it. Lugia, seeing that he
couldn't recreate a barrier immediately, launched an attack of his own, a Hyper Beam,
which shot straight and true and caught Raikou straight in the chest and sent him flying
backwards a few dozen yards.

"That should keep him busy," Lugia muttered under his breath as he whirled around in
mid-air to check up on the rest of the birds.

They were not faring well. Though their numbers and strength clearly should've
overcome the dogs, they were tiring, while the dogs showed absolutely no signs of
slowing. It was a fight they would not win…not without outside help…

Lugia mustered all his psychic power together and began to concentrate on the running
form of Jolteon…

Mew felt the evil. It covered the entirety of Cinnabar Island like a thick layer of
sulphorous fog, blanketing the entire island and areas surrounding it as well. At once,
Serebii and he zoomed off towards the island, and true to their psychic vision, they saw
the lone figure of Mewtwo standing there. They had expected him to have his attention
to the battle of the Legendary Birds and Dogs, but to their surprise he was gazing straight
at them. As they approached, Mewtwo levitated himself off the roof and began to glow.
His eyes transformed into an intense, blood red neither had ever seen before. His lips
curled up into an evil grin as his voice boomed loud and clear directly into their minds,
sending large bolts of fear to the center of their hearts.

"It is time." Mew whispered.

Mewtwo looked over his opponents. The words of the Earth Spirit rang in his mind.

"A force more powerful than even you." The words repeated over and over in his head.
The very sight of Mew made him realize what the Earth Spirit had meant. He had to
destroy Mew.

"I know his design. We will destroy the Spirit of Heaven and wipe this universe clean of
the trash that inhabits it." Mewtwo said.

"You will be destroyed too!" Serebii exclaimed.

"No. I will lead the new world in the Earth Spirit's stead." Mewtwo said.

"You're wrong!" Mew shouted. "He'll destroy you too!"

"You are the one who is wrong mew." Mewtwo said. "And now I shall prove it."

"Have you already forgotten the lesson you learned on New Island?" Mew asked.

"This is much bigger than a few measly clones." Mewtwo said. "This is about control of
the universe!"

Having said that, Mewtwo launched his attack. He raised his arm and launched a psychic
blast at Mew. Mew dodged and returned with a psychic blast of his own. Mewtwo
deflected the attack. Serebii, using his psychic powers over plants, called for the two
huge vines that entwined Mewtwo in a massive bind attack. Mewtwo glowed a bright
red and the vines disintegrated. Mewtwo then raised both arms and shot two psybeams at
Mew and Serebii. The attacks found their mark and both Mew and Serebii were thrown
back. Mew and Serebii began to glow, Serebii, a bright green, and Mew, a soft pink.
The light around Serebii began to shrink and took the shape of a small ball of energy.
The light around Mew did the same. The balls combined into a larger ball that launched
itself at Mewtwo. Mewtwo knew this power ball would be too much for him to deflect
so he put up a psychic shield around himself. But it was to no avail. The ball shattered
the shield and slammed into Mewtwo. There was a large explosion and Mewtwo's body
was covered in white-hot pain. He felt himself hit the ground. Every movement he made
was answered by a sharp, paralyzing pain. Mew and Serebii looked on.